- Mar 11, 2015
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The real reason Trump is president is summed up right here.
Following the 2024 Election, media coverage has been dominated by newspapers seeking to articulate how Donald Trump won the election.1 As a part of this coverage, there is a noticeable rise in articles on the shift in Black and Latino votes for Trump with titles such as “Trump’s return to power fueled by Hispanic, working-class voter support,” and lines like “some surprising margins . . . within groups including women, Black and Latino voters helped carry the former president to victory.”2 While it is certainly important to recognize shifts in the voting patterns of people of color and what that means, the media framing that seeks to attribute Trump’s victory to people of color is concerning because it seemingly blames those who will be most devastated by a second Trump term for his victory.
To be clear, Trump’s voting coalition is overwhelmingly composed of white voters. Approximately 84% of the votes for Trump in 2024 were cast by white voters.3 While it is true that some voters of color shifted towards Donald Trump, Kamala Harris still received the majority of votes cast by people of color, and received 83% of the votes cast by Black voters.4 Articles seeking to understand how people of color may have “fueled” Trump’s victory miss the forest for the trees. Current articles mirror phenomena in victim-blaming discourse where “there is a lack of tendency to blame the environment” and instead a “tend[ency] to blame specific victims.”5
Donald Trump won the 2024 election despite running the most racist presidential campaign in history, despite his long history of racial slurs and comments (such as claiming that Kamala Harris “turn[ed] Black”), and despite hosting rallies where speakers regularly gave remarks containing racist dog whistles on stage.6 This phenomenon, where voters voted for Trump despite his racist actions, suggests that in spite of arguments to the contrary, the United States of America is still wrestling with issues of white supremacy and racial bias.
www.law.georgetown.edu
To be clear, Trump’s voting coalition is overwhelmingly composed of white voters. Approximately 84% of the votes for Trump in 2024 were cast by white voters.3 While it is true that some voters of color shifted towards Donald Trump, Kamala Harris still received the majority of votes cast by people of color, and received 83% of the votes cast by Black voters.4 Articles seeking to understand how people of color may have “fueled” Trump’s victory miss the forest for the trees. Current articles mirror phenomena in victim-blaming discourse where “there is a lack of tendency to blame the environment” and instead a “tend[ency] to blame specific victims.”5
Donald Trump won the 2024 election despite running the most racist presidential campaign in history, despite his long history of racial slurs and comments (such as claiming that Kamala Harris “turn[ed] Black”), and despite hosting rallies where speakers regularly gave remarks containing racist dog whistles on stage.6 This phenomenon, where voters voted for Trump despite his racist actions, suggests that in spite of arguments to the contrary, the United States of America is still wrestling with issues of white supremacy and racial bias.
Be Better, Media: Issues With Racial Framing in Post-2024 Election Coverage
